Elder Zathiran
Zathiran Kaito was the leader of the isolated village of Kaito, located north of the Icecap zone of the Mystic Ruins. The latest in the long line of the Kaito family, Zathiran was raised from day one to be the ruler the people needed, and he took the prospect of ruling seriously throughout his entire life. Rising to the position at the age of 23 due to the death of his father, Zathiran immediately instated lax, almost tradition-breaking laws involving increased trade and freedom of choosing one's occupation. Under Zathiran, Kaito's economy flourished, but their defenses weakened dramatically due to no one wishing to take up a weapon for the village, preferring safer jobs. Early Life Zathiran was born as the fourth son of the previous elder, the sixteenth Kaitian ruler Elder Varathein Kaito. His older siblings were all women, and according to Kaitian tradition, women were restricted to standard 'house jobs' such as cooking, cleaning, tailoring, and caring for children. As the eldest son, Zathiran was declared heir to the position of Elder, and thus he began working as a warrior and hunter for the village as tradition goes. Varathein died of disease when Zathiran was 23, and Zathiran took over the next week. He immediately changed many of his father's laws and policies, getting rid of the assigned-jobs system for the men, and giving the women more freedom overall (though they were still restricted to the house jobs). Increased trade was also established, and Kaito thrived. Early Years as Elder With the radical changes in Kaitian society, many of the older villagers disliked Zathiran for his new rules and policies. Though no uprisings occurred, many considered leaving the village; a few actually did. Despite this, Zathiran did not hold up, believing that personal freedom was the best thing for the village. The younger villagers loved Zathiran and encourage him to continue his changes to further increase productivity and success. Instead of taking a harem as tradition went for elders in Kaito, Zathiran fell in love with a commoner girl named Vellana and took her as his only wife. When Zathiran was 25 years of age, their first and only son Zeviran was born. Zathiran loved Zeviran a great deal, and spent more time with him than he did with governing. His bond with Zeviran was great, and he took the young boy everywhere he went. Unfortunately, Vellana died of disease ten years later, leaving a grieving Zathiran and a motherless Zeviran. Though the loss of his love hurt Zathiran a great deal, he kept up his radical changes, and Kaito was as free as it had ever been. Considerations were made to even expand the village with smaller settlements, though a lack of sufficient resources defeated the ideas. The booming economy, however, began to attract unwelcome visitors. An increase in bandit raids on Kaitian caravans was seen, and Zathiran began to stop the lenience on the freedom of occupation in the village. More men were forced to become warriors in order to stop the bandit raids, but by the time they had a sufficient force to prevent bandit attacks, they were already behind the military might of nearby hostile villages. The First Razing of Kaito When Zathiran was 45 years of age, tensions rose between Kaito and a southern village of nomads known as Orzamein. The Orzameinians had begun joining bandits with raids on Kaitian caravans due to dwindling resources, and once they saw that Kaito was not adequately defended, plans for an all-out attack were made to gather resources before moving further south. In the late months of that year, Orzamein attacked Kaito with their entire military force, and Kaito was not prepared. The attack was a massacre, and in the fighting, Zeviran, 20 years old at the time, was killed. Zathiran fought alongside his meager force, and was left alive by the Orzameinians to wallow in his destroyed village. After Orzamein left with most of Kaito's resources, a distraught Zathiran ordered the survivors to gather what they could and move far north to rebuild. Kaito was eventually rebuilt, but Zathiran was left permanently hurt by the loss of his only son. Entering a deep depression, he immediately ushered in the laws of his father, and ordered the building of a great wall around Kaito and its hunting grounds to prevent, or at least slow, any further attacks. Varos Four years later, Zathiran, at age 49, found a lone baby in a basket at the uncomplete wall of Kaito. The baby was an arctic wolf like he, but was clearly not from Kaito or any place nearby. Feeling pity for the baby, Zathiran took him in as his own. The baby wore a cross-sword necklace with 'Varos' carved into one of the swords, and Zathiran determined that Varos was the baby's name. So it came to be that Varos the Wolf became the adopted son of Zathiran, and the next heir of Kaito. Varos reminded Zathiran of Zeviran constantly. The two looked very much alike, and acted similarly as well, though Varos had a greater dislike of politics. Though Zathiran loved Varos like he was his own, he could never combat the feeling of sadness that came with thinking of Zeviran. Regardless, he did his best in raising Varos, teaching him how to hunt, fish, and do other things essential to life in Kaito. Varos' Rebellion When Varos was sixteen (and Zathiran 65), the young heir of Kaito found a hole in the great wall surrounding the village and made it out, meeting a trader from the nearby village of Hathering. When Varos returned with gifts from the other village, Zathiran was infuriated, believing that a hole in the defenses would weaken the village's defenses greatly. In truth, Zathiran was not so worried about the hole, so much as he was frightened that another attack would occur and take Varos from him as Zeviran was taken from him as well. Varos did not agree with the prospect of keeping the village closed, and instead chose to defy Zathiran with a peaceful rebellion consisting of boycotting, among other things. Those involved with Varos' rebellion, however, did not want to remain peaceful, and decided to burn the food storage building in Kaito to force Zathiran to open up the village once more. Varos was knocked unconscious by a falling, burnng beam of wood, and carried out of the village by other rebels. Varos was eventually deemed beyond hope and left for dead in the Icecap zone, but was saved by a young girl. (For more details, see Varos' article.) Zathiran had lost yet another one close to him, and in a fit of rage, he ordered any rebels involved with the burning to be imprisoned, and later forced to work hard labor. Cirsuimenian Invasion WARNING: Possible Spoilers follow. All details of the Cirsuimenian Invasion are subject to change. The details of the Cirsuimenian Invasion have not been determined yet, but it is presumed that during the conflict, Varos joined with Alex, Diego, and Zora Ibarakkurai, along with other people, to form 'The Sonic Family' and oppose Judas' invasion. Zathiran, however, was involved in a different way. With Kaito weakened, the evil King of Cirsuimenia, Judas, found the village to be an easy source of forced recruits for his attack on Station Square. Though Zathiran was old, his fighting skills with his bladed bow were still great, and he unwillingly became one of Judas' top minions in the attack. As said before, the details of the Invasion have not yet been determined, but it is presumed that The Sonic Family fought and killed Zathiran to get to Judas. Zathiran was forced to fight to save his village, and nothing was more important to him. Thus, he even took up arms against Varos to save Kaito, proving that he defended his village to his dying breath. Death NOTE: These events are subject to change. Zathiran engaged Varos and the rest of The Sonic Family in a fierce battle as the team went for Judas. Zathiran fought with his bladed bow and arrow and caused significant havoc. After a difficult battle, Zathiran was eventually defeated. Laying on the floor that was to be his deathbed, Zathiran told Varos of where he came from before dying in his adopted son's arms. Category:Characters Category:Featured Article